Intermission, travelling from Haida Gwaii to Shearwater

Taking the BC Ferry from Haida Gwaii to Prince Rupert, and then from Prince Rupert to Shearwater where we met our sailing ship for the Great Bear Rainforest trip was something I really looked forward to. We took the overnight ferry from Haida Gwaii. It crosses Hecate Straight and we were told it might be heavy seas but I slept well, and so did Cathy who can be seasick.

They kicked us off in Prince Rupert pretty early and we made our way to our hotel, The Moby Dick. A quaint old place. I thought I had a picture, but I don’t. We set off to explore the town nearby and found many small local stores and restaurants.

But so was the rain.

Before the rain came we found a walking trail and walked it. It started to rain as we approached the hotel at the end of the day, and it rained all the way to the ferry the next day.

It was an early start, not my favourite, to catch the ferry from Prince Rupert to Bella Bella and on to Shearwater.

Sadly, it rained all day. It chucked it down. We had booked reclining chairs in a locked lounge which were very comfortable and helped pass the time as we really did not want to be outside admiring the view. And of course I knitted. We did see many many many waterfalls, always a thrill, and we did explore some of the same waters on Ocean Wayfinder but even an hour of sunshine would have been welcome.

On to Shearwater. We arrived in Bella Bell and it continued to rain. Needed a taxi ride to the waterbus, and the waterbus to take us to from Bella Bella to Shearwater. We were tired and soaked, but had to have dinner first as the restaurant closed at 8 pm. It was the end of the season. The rain was a bit of a downer that day, but didn’t daunt our spirit too long, most days on our trip so far had been fair to lovely.

Cathy took me on several forced marches over the days we were in Shearwater, it appears I am quite daunted by muddy paths and dicey stream crossings, but the weather was lovely most of the time. So much so that when we reached our destination on one hike, Eddie Lake, we had a swim. Lovely. And we came home to our own little cabin overlooking Shearwater Lodge, which had laundry facilities for our muddy clothes.

We called out frequently to make bears aware of our presence but we did not encounter them until…. we arrived back in Shearwater. We stood still and they wandered away, as did we, carefully and slowly. They did look us over pretty thoroughly.